A woman who receives the diagnosis of breast cancer, will first require information concerning the prognosis and survival. Breast cancer mortality has decreased with about 3 percent since 1990 and mortality rates keep dropping as new ways of treating this disease are studied all around the world.


There are many factors which influence the prognosis of breast cancer. The stage of the cancer, the age of the patient, the cell type found in the tumor, the grade of the cancer, the presence of hormone receptors on the membrane of cancer cells and the oncogene expression.

Stage is a parameter used when referring to the extent (spread) of the breast cancer.  The breast cancer patients are categorized from stage 0 (the very earliest cancer) to stage IV,  (the situations in which the cancer has metastasized to other organs of the body). Several tests including imaging tests and lymph node biopsies should be performed in order to establish the stage of the breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society the five-year survival rate for the patients with localized breast cancer is 98%. The survival rates  if breast cancer has spread to the toracic wall or lymph nodes is about 80%, and minimum 25% of the patients with metastatic breast cancer will survive five years or more. These statistics will continue to improve as  better ways of treatment will be investigated.

Even though it seems paradoxical,  the survival rate for the women younger than 40 years with breast cancer is slightly lower than the rate for older patients with breast cancer, maybe because of the fact that many younger patients develop more aggressive forms of cancer. There is a gain in survival  rates of 7% in the women over 40 compared to those under 40. In some cases the natural hormones, the estrogen and the progesterone help the division of cancer cells. In case that the tests show that the breast cancer tissue is hormone positive, hormone therapy is necessary in order to block the effects of these two hormones on the cancer, even if the cancer spread to other organs.

Breast cancer cells should be examined  under a microscope in order to determine the grade of the cancer tissue. When the cancer cells are highly similar to normal breast tissue,  cancer is considered to be low grade or highly differentiated. These tumors usually tend to grow and spread slowly.The cancer that look very different  and abnormal are categorized as high grade or poorly differentiated. These cancers tend to grow quickly and a more aggressive therapy is required in order to achieve a good outcome.

The oncogene (the piece of genetic material that may determin the development of normal cells into cancerous ones) expression is another important factor affecting the prognosis.  A very important oncogene in breast cancer is the HER-2 breast cancer oncogene, found in about  1/3 of breast cancer patients. Research has shown that breast cancer patients with the HER-2 oncogene have a tendency towards having earlier cancer recurrences and lower survival rates.